Education reporter

The University of Georgia’s School of Public and International Affairs (SPIA) must bring in more outside money to build on the progress already made at the school in its first decade, said one of the candidates to become the school’s next dean.

“The key to SPIA’s success is fundraising, plain and simple,” said Stefanie Lindquist, a professor and associate dean for external affairs at the University of Texas School of Law.

The law school relies heavily on gifts from alumni in its fundraising. But that won’t be enough at SPIA, she told a small crowd, including many SPIA students and faculty members, in UGA’s Tate Student Center on Monday.

“We have to be more creative. We have to look at foundations. We especially have to look at corporations. We have to look at naming opportunities,” she said.

U.S. News and World Report has ranked SPIA’s graduate program fourth in the country, but the school should aim even higher, said Lindquist, a former SPIA faculty member and recently interim dean of the University of Texas School of Law.

“This is not time to rest on our laurels,” she said. “I think we can propel this school to international prominence.”

One of the keys to achieving greater promise is to “build our brand,” she said. The school should develop a public message and “shout that message from the rooftops.”

Lindquist was the first of three candidates scheduled to visit this month.

Matthew Auer, professor in the School of Public and Environmental Affairs and dean of the Hutton Honors College, Indiana University, is slated for April 22.

James Hollifield, a professor and director of the Tower Center for Political Studies at Southern Methodist University, is scheduled for April 25.

The school’s founding dean, Thomas Lauth, is retiring this year.

In addition to the SPIA dean job, UGA also has job searches underway for two more deanships and a vice president slot. Two more vice presidencies also will need filling.

One of those searches might soon conclude. Three finalists to become dean of the UGA College of Engineering visited the campus last month.

A search for a new dean for the Terry College of Business is underway, along with one for a vice president for student affairs to replace Rodney Bennett, who left that job at UGA to become president at the University of Southern Mississippi.

UGA also soon will be looking for new people for two of its top administrative slots.

Tim Burgess, senior vice president for finance and administration, will step down at the end of June, and Jere Morehead, UGA provost and senior vice president for academic affairs, will become president July 1.